I'm feeling like pretty soon I should be crowned the duchess of parking garages or something. I guess it's better than being the duchess of truck stops... but I don't know, maybe not. There are some pretty nice truck stops out there (ahem, Belvidere Oasis).
In any case, I've become a bit of a parking garage expert these days, as I live in the far-out burbs and drive to the city fairly often for events and such in areas that aren't known to be to be the most fruitful for open parking spots. And one more inexperienced might think that all parking garages are pretty much equal, but I can tell you from experience that they are most definitely not.
Take Standard Parking off Jackson for instance- $10 bought me 3 hours in their garage, a pretty good deal considering I've paid $36 for 2 hours only a few miles from here. The garage closes at midnight and given it's proximity to the United Center, that doesn't seem like a very convenient time since I've been to concerts at the UC that went until 11ish and after a walk or stumble back to this garage, you'd really be pushing the nightly garage impound time.
It seemed that this garage had more room to drive through than other garages, so you didn't feel like at any moment a person could back out a two feet and ding your hooptie, but then again, when I arrived at 5:30 on a non-game day, it was mostly empty and I was able to have my pick of spots on the second level (the first level is reserved for teamster vans) and even get a spot right up next to the elevator vestibule. Speaking of which, was incredibly clean and well-lit (this is key) compared to outside the parking garage, which has virtually no (functioning) street lighting.
Leaving without a membership was pretty annoying. There aren't any pay stations so you have to pull up to the one line where there's supposed to be an attendant on duty and pay cash. Note- the attendant will likely not be in the attendant office, so they advice you to honk your horn until an attendant comes out. Not very efficient and something that really seems like it's going out it's way to make you look like an asshole to the any passersby and neighboring businesses. I watched ahead, as I had to honk several times for several minutes, while the valet guys from the bar across the street laughed and pointed. Finally a man came out wiping his hands like he'd either been going to the bathroom or eating. He open the window just a slit and I gave him my ticket. He responded by telling me $10, I paid and then he questioned me as to my whereabouts in their garage and about how many cars I saw left in the lots while I drove down. It was kind of odd to be asked by a guy who probably has some sort of surveillance on the place, but he probably just wanted a good gauge of when he'd get to go home.
In the end, I'd say this is a fine parking garage if you don't need to haul ass out of here, but their 'honk if you want to leave' system is still pretty lame. Why not get a buzzer? A pay station? An attendant who actually sits in the attendant office? I dunno, I'm just glad the horn on my hooptie worked. read more